Sunday, 2 August 2009

Sleepy Sunday Summary

Fleshmarket Close gets an unattractive makeover - Edinburgh's streets are teeming with rubbish and the festival hasn't even started yet. Maybe Ian Rankin could use his new position as judge for the Sunday Times Scotland essay writing competition (which aims to promote political debate amongst young people and improve political accountability) could come up with some ideas to resolve the rubbish crisis. And when he's not dipping his toes into politics, he's being a rock star. And, talking of the marvellous Mr Rankin - a review of the short story collection CRIMESPOTTING, set in Edinburgh.

And finally, in true crime news, a new Tesco Express supermarket has opened up near me. This is great news as it means I can now get fresh fruit and veg from 6am until midnight. What do you mean "Come off it, tubby"? OK, OK, I can now get cake and chocolate from 6am until midnight. Happy now? Anyway, I was in there today buying...errrrr...cherries and blackberries (encased in chocolate cake) and enthusing over the fact that they were now in the neighbouhood. The checkout guy raised his eyebrows and said "Yeah, you and the junkies and the neds. They think it's Christmas. We're losing vast amounts of steak, cheese and washing powder." He nodded casually towards the door. "And there goes one now." I turned to see a ned running out of the door with a big box of Daz tucked into his shell suit top. From his awkward gait, I can only assume that his shell suit bottoms contained a couple of T-Bones and half a pound of brie.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Welcome to Badsville

This here's Badsville - the home of Scottish crime fiction - news, interviews, reviews, book-related stuff, non book-related stuff, and any other random nonsense that takes my fancy (there, that should stop me getting done under the Trade Descriptions Act). It will focus on Scottish crime fiction authors, crime fiction books set in Scotland, and authors who have a great great-uncle twice removed who may once have played football for Scotland. But it will also cover anything else that tickles my fancy because...well, because I can.

The list of authors includes all those I could find websites for. If I've missed anyone off the list, please let me know. If you want to be interviewed (you mad fool) again, please let me know. And...well, that's about it really.

"It's all hilarious and exhausting; you can't help but love The Old Dogs" Shelf Awareness

"The way she orchestrates her comic set-pieces is nothing short of genius and designed to eke out every last piece of humour." Crimesquad

"...All of the action points toward the trainwreck of heist attempts, but Moore gives us much more, continuing the action (and the fun) long after the heist itself..." International Noir Fiction

"...a heist caper, a modern farce, an adventure, a Carry-On movie on acid. The twists and turns are impossible to predict and it is to her credit that no matter how ridiculous the sets of events might be she manages to make them seem entirely credible, in part because the motives of all those who inhabit the book are so deeply believable." Sea Minor

"Donna Moore is a master at creating colourful characters and putting them into laugh out loud situations. Combine that with strong dialogue and tight pacing, and you've got yourself a brilliant book well worth the read." I Love A Good Mystery

Currently Listening To

Catchy, reverby, retro indie pop. A cheerier and less edgy version of Jesus and Mary Chain mixed in with Wreckless Eric and the enrgy of The Ramones. Nothing that will revolutionise indie music, but just really great fun, dance around the living room tunes that are feelgood and upbeat. Favourite tracks - IF YOU WANNA, BLOW IT UP and WRECKIN' BAR (RA RA RA).

Psychedelic throbbing guitar noise, very 60s, a little like an indie rock version of The Doors. Sludgy, moody, a little bit creepy in places. Favourite tracks - BAD VIBRATIONS and HAUNTING AT 1300 MCKINLEY. Although this album doesn't have my favourite Black Angels track - that's this one - BLOODHOUNDS ON MY TRAIL.

Compilation album of Violent Feemes tracks from 1981-1993 this has been one of my favourite albums for ages. With so many UK bands mixing indie and folk and ending up sounding naff and twee and really annoying, the Violent Femmes do the whole punk/country/folk thing superbly. And I love Gordon Gano's voice. Favourite tracks GONE DADDY GONE, 36-24-36, AMERICAN MUSIC and the utterly brilliant and eerie COUNTRY DEATH SONG (about as noir as it gets).